Lieutenant Lawrence (Lawrie) Franklyn-Vaile’s first six letters, which were sent to his wife Olive during August 1943, describe his sea journey from England to the north coast of Africa.
He is accompanied by a draft of reinforcements from the various depots of the Irish Brigade, along with six other junior officers, Aubrey, McConnell, Myles, Ellis, O’Brien and Glennie. They are all initially taken into a holding camp in Algeria before being posted to their various infantry units, who were at that time resting and training in Sicily.
2/Lt John Glennie, who travelled to Sicily with Lawrie.
12th August – At a port of embarkation in the UK.
“We are on the boat at the port of embarkation. Had an uneventful journey throughout the night – did not get much sleep and felt very low and miserable but with something to do to occupy my mind, so today has not been quite so bad. It was a grim and sad business saying good bye to you yesterday, darling, and I only managed to keep a stiff upper lip with considerable difficulty, as you probably guessed.
I felt going up the lane that I had to see you once more and that was why I called out to you. I thought, precious, you were marvellously brave throughout and admire you enormously for it. The way you kept up our spirits was really splendid and I wanted to tell you so, but felt I could not risk getting too sentimental. However, we had a lovely week together and I am very glad indeed we spent it together and did not just say good bye at the end of my leave. It was nice to have it under different surroundings and away from any irritating features and it is something that I will always look back on with the utmost enjoyment, just as I look back with the greatest pleasure on our time at Mourne Park.
Obviously at the moment, I cannot say anything about the ship, etc but we are quite comfortable and four of us are sharing a cabin, McConnell, Jerry Aubrey (RUR) and a very amusing ‘Skins’ officer named Myles, whom the other two know extremely well, so it is quite a jolly party and we had a rubber of bridge this evening. My draft is quite a good crowd, a few have served under me before and when I arrived yesterday afternoon, they were on the trucks and they gave me quite a shout as I came up. There were loud cries of ‘up the Faughs’. Today, we left the train at the port and I came back with the documents and told the sergeant to move them. He said, ‘shall we follow the others, Sir?’ (there were quite a number waiting in front of us). I said, ‘Follow? No, we lead’ and there were shouts of ‘Up the Faughs, that’s the spirit, clear the way for the Faughs’. Hoile, my ex Company runner, asked after you and the dogs.
I hope Paddy Coughlin came down to see you last night, darling. He said he was going to, immediately the train left. I will be very relieved when I hear about you being settled again. I will be constantly thinking and wondering how you are getting along, dearest girl, so write as often as you can and let me know all the news. Don’t forget to send an air mail a week. It is terrible having to leave you with so much to settle up – it has come at a very bad time but I have the utmost confidence in your courage and determination and I know you will pull through although I would not hesitate to use other people as much as you can. It is a fine thing to be independent but now you will need some help and I want you to avail yourself of it.
Look after yourself, my own darling wife. I love you far more than anything on earth. Keep your spirits up. I am certain it will not be too long before we are together again.
Give dear little Valerie lots of kisses from her Dad.
All my love, my most precious darling,
Your devoted husband
Lawrence
P.S. We are advised to tell you that in event of urgent need of financial assistance to apply to: – Officers Family Fund, 3 Wilton Row, London, SW1. I hope it won’t ever be needed, but they strongly advise us to tell our dependents as these people are very good.
15th August – On board ship heading for North Africa.
My Dearest Olive,
Have the chance of writing another letter which should reach you fairly soon. There is still no official news that I am able to tell you, but my next letter, which may of course not reach you for a little time, should give you more information. I will endeavour to send an air mail letter as soon as possible after we land and will address it c/o Florence so you had better arrange for them to forward on letters for the present at any rate. I will be very anxious to hear from you and will hope that it will not be too far ahead before I get some news of you and Valerie.
Life on board ship runs fairly smoothly. We are fed magnificently – talk about ‘fattening up the calf’. Breakfast is at 8, lunch at 12.30, tea at 4.30 and supper at 7 and each meal, with the possible exception of tea, is first class. However, I don’t suppose it will be quite so good later on. Living is very cheap on board. 50 cigarettes for 1s 8d, a slight difference from 20 for 2s 4d. Chocolate is plentiful – I wish I could send you some. You will be pleased to hear that this is a ‘dry ship’, so that even if one wished to drown one’s sorrows in alcohol, it would be impossible. Apparently, these are General Eisenhower’s orders and is a good order, I feel. We content ourselves with vegenade at 3d per glass and it is proving a very pleasant drink. I have a certain amount to do with my draft and most of our spare time has been spent playing Bridge and hot stuff it is too. The four of us play a very hard game, none of your sociable bridge that we used to play at Molly’s, for example.
I get on very well with my stable companions. Myles is a great character; Jerry Aubrey is very much ‘the man of the world’ and you know what an excellent fellow McConnell is. We are all about the same age. The other three who came on the draft: Ellis, O’Brien and Glennie are excellent fellows. Glennie, the only other one of my draft, is a lively young sprig, very gay and cheerful. He comes from Enniskillen and it is all a big adventure to him.
The only flaw so far, apart from the big one of being away from you, is that I have a flea in my bed which I just cannot catch and each night he gives me ‘hell’. I wish you were here to catch it for me. Myles, who sleeps in the other lower berth, is also troubled with one but the other two sleeping in the top berths have so far ‘escaped’.
I miss you an enormous lot, darling. It would be marvellous to be with you and Valerie again but it is no use moping and I am only hoping it will not be long before we are together again. I would be content, in my mind, if I knew you were fixed up alright and will be most anxious to hear how you are getting along. Don’t forget to write frequently and send me photos whenever possible. We had a great time together and I am certain we will have an even better time in the future.
The war news looks good: the Russians appear to be continuing their grand progress and we are hoping to hear of the fall of Kharkov at any time now.
Take care of yourself, dearest girlie, and remember I love you far beyond anything else in life.
All my love and kisses to you and Valerie.
Your devoted husband
Lawrence
21st August – On board ship in the Meditterranean.
My Dearest Olive,
The days are slowly passing and soon we should be on land again. It has been quite a pleasant voyage, better than I anticipated in many ways, but nevertheless I will be quite glad when we eventually arrive at the port of destination.
There is not much I can tell you about the start of the voyage beyond the fact that everything went very smoothly, and the organisation certainly was extremely good. The second day out, we ran into quite a heavy storm and had rather a bad time on board. I was perfectly alright beyond a slight queasy feeling at dinner. I felt no ill effects but my three cabin companions were not as fortunate. Jerry Aubrey was prostrate and could not rise from his bunk and McConnell was nearly as bad only coming down for one meal and then beating a hasty retreat. Paddy Myles was rather better than the other two but he was sick on occasions. Of the other three in our party, young Ellis who has never been to sea before was as ‘fit as a fiddle’, O’Brien who has done a lot of sailing was fit but Glennie had rather a bad time of it. There were many vacant seats in the dining saloon only about half turning up to dinner.
The men, of course, had an even worse time of it, crowded down below. Many of them were very sick and it must have been ghastly for them under such conditions. Some of my lads were rather badly knocked about. At night time, they are not so badly off for, although crowded, they sleep in hammocks which sway with the ship. One officer per section has to sleep with his section each night. We have six unattached officers lent to us for that purpose – otherwise Glennie and I would have to be doing it on alternate nights. I slept below the first night in a hammock and found it quite comfortable, except that it was difficult to enter and this was made worse by McConnell trying to help and at the same time splitting his sides with laughter. It was very hot in the men’s quarters, made worse by the fact that everyone has to sleep in their clothes, but otherwise I had quite a good night. The following day, there was still rather a heavy swell. Aubrey and McConnell were still fairly bad and a lot of the men looked very green but the next day was much better and most people appear to have gained their “sea legs”. So far, we have had scarcely any sun but we should soon be striking warmer weather. The atmosphere is certainly becoming hotter.
Contrary to my expectations, there is a considerable amount to do on board when one is in charge of a draft. There is plenty of administration and training is supposed to be carried out during daytime. Naturally, there is no room for proper training so it really means keeping the men occupied with PT, talks, competitions, etc. We have had several discussions and quite animated they have been. Interesting points that emerged were the strong feeling of sympathy towards Russia, the fact that, while everyone strongly desires the downfall of Hitler and his gang, there does not appear to be a vindictive spirit towards the German people. The fact that they are going out to fight seems to have sharpened the men’s interest in affairs.
I have developed rather a sore throat and a slight cold. In addition, I am very constipated which is most unusual for me. Yesterday, I felt very heavy and had a bad headache, but today I feel rather better although still heavy in the head. This, however, is a common complaint and probably due to lack of exercise.
It is strange to think that it is only ten days since I left you, darling. In many respects, it seems much longer. It would be marvellous to be with you and Valerie again but I set my face against indulging in daydreams. The time will come when our separation will end and then we will certainly make up for all the time apart. I am terribly anxious to hear from you, sweetheart, to know how you are getting along. I hated to leave you with so much responsibility upon your shoulders and am desperately anxious to know how affairs are progressing. Write as often as you can and keep me in touch with how affairs are going with you. Try and let me have as many photos as possible of my darling Valerie. Have as good a time as you can, I know it is difficult, but I would very much rather you got out and about whenever it is possible. That is why I hope you will be living where you are able to occasionally have someone to mind Valerie. I know she will grow into a most lovely child and she is very lucky in having such a fine mother as I am in having such a grand wife.
Lawrence
23rd August – On board ship off the North African coast.
My Dearest Olive,
The weather has now become very warm and the sea is beautifully blue and very calm. We are all wearing our tropical kit and I got my knees rather sun burnt yesterday. In fact, I overdid it slightly and they were painful for a time. However they feel alright today. I seem to be slightly cured of my constipation but my cold has got rather worse. These conditions are not very good for the curing of a cold – our portholes have to be tightly closed at night time and in consequence, we all wake up in the morning feeling very heavy in the head. We have had warnings of the danger of malaria, and every second day we take a tablet which is similar to quinine and today we are being issued with mosquito nets and mosquito cream. Apparently the problem of malaria is steadily growing and it is spreading all over the world.
Last night, there was quite an amusing ship’s concert which was held on the top deck. The four of us play a lot of bridge. Aubrey and Myles are both extremely good players quite up to the standard of Eric Meredith so it produces some hard and interesting struggles.
This is a Dutch ship and very well organised. The stewards’ work is done by Javanese boys and very good they are, very cheerful and willing.There is an Officer Commander Troops on Board, a Lieut. Colonel, a permanent Adjutant and staff. There are a large number of officers, veterans of the last war who are presumably going out to administrative jobs. There are quite a number of fairly newly commissioned officers.
Well, dear heart, I must close now in order to post ‘this letter’ in time. Write as often as you can and if you are allowed to send me newspaper cuttings of items of interest. Remember, I love you more than anything in the world and will always do so, my own sweet darling wife.
Give Valerie a very big kiss from her Dad. I hope the dogs are well. I expect they were delighted to see you back.
Your devoted husband
Lawrence
27th August – From a port somewhere on the North African coast.
My Dearest Olive,
Have arrived safely and am at present at the above camp (No 1 IRTD – BNAF). Expect to be moving on shortly but send letters to this address until you hear further from me. They will be forwarded on, I hope.
We landed at a port on the North African coast and this camp is situated on the coast. The heat is absolutely terrific. I have never known anything like it. The sun beats down fiercely all day long, from a cloudless blue sky. Sand everywhere, clothes, equipment, cases all covered with sand. We sleep in tents, four per tent, the floor of the tent is sand so you can get some idea of what it is all like. The flies are very bad. As I write this, there are quite a number on the paper and others endeavouring to crawl over me. I keep on waving my hands to try and get rid of them. Some of them have a very vicious sting, particularly the sand fly. At night, the mosquitoes are very bad and we have to sleep under nets. Once dusk falls, we wear long trousers, every part of the body that one can cover is covered, and the exposed parts are rubbed with anti mosquito cream. Malaria is apparently very bad in these parts. Fortunately, the nights are comparatively cool – otherwise I don’t know what we would do. The training is fairly light: short route marches, followed by a bathe which is very pleasant with the water being lovely and warm. The idea is to accustom us gradually to conditions.
One of the officers here, Carr, was with the 1st Bttn until May when he was wounded. He knew Denis (Haywood) well. Denis has recently been rather badly wounded and may be out of action for some time, so it looks as if I will miss him after all. The 1st Bttn have been fighting in Sicily and put up a very good show. Power and Tony Pierce were both wounded but, up to just recently, Gibbon and Room were quite alright.
Send an airmail to me in immediate reply to this, darling, I am dying to hear from you, as it seems ages since I left you, my own darling wife. I have written a long letter from the boat giving details of the voyage and will write regularly by ordinary mail and can apparently send you one airmail per week. Send plenty of airmails because the other post is very slow.
All my love and kisses to you and Valerie, darling girl.
Lawrence
28th August.
My Dearest Olive,
Long before you receive this, I hope you will have had several air mail letters from me but I am writing this as I promised to give you some greater details.
Our sea voyage ended on Wednesday. We sailed near the North Africa coast for a day, passing Algiers. Unfortunately, we would not land there. We finally landed at a pleasant port.
The houses are built on the side of a hill, all shining white and the streets were full of French and Arabs. It was intensely hot and the disembarking was a wearisome business. Finally, we got into transports and were driven to this camp. I had a momentary shock when the truck swung onto the right hand side of the road and then realised that all driving is, of course, on the right hand side. Finally, we reached the camp and had a hot and dusty march carrying full equipment, that is a large back pack on the back with blankets inside and the men carrying their kit bags and I carried my case. We were all well nigh exhausted when we reached the end.
As I told you in my air mail, this place is pretty grim. Never have I known such heat but what makes matters worse is the dust and flies. The sand gets into everything, all my stuff is covered with sand, everything I touch has a dirty, gritty touch and the flies are simply appalling. It seems impossible to obtain any relief from them. At night comes the menace of the mosquito – everyone is very malaria conscious and one takes great care to see that the mosquito net is well and securely in place. Fortunately, the nights are very much cooler, the period about sunset is quite pleasant and it is possible to sleep fairly well. Unfortunately, I have lost my camp bed. It came on the boat and I saw it when I went down to the hold to open my valise but when everything else arrived, the camp bed was missing. Damned annoying to put it mildly but I am afraid it is a common occurrence out here. Fortunately, on making a claim to the War Office, they will compensate up to 75% but the difficulty is going to be securing another one. They are absolutely impossible to obtain here and, from all reports, very difficult anywhere. It is quite comfortable sleeping on the ground here but may not be so good elsewhere although up in the front line, one will not have much use for them.
The Company, to which we are temporarily attached, is a base for the Irish Brigade. New drafts come here as well as men returning from wounds, sickness etc. Quite a number of ‘Faughs’ I have known are here and have come up and had a chat with me. Sergeant Fairbrother, who was my corporal at the RAF ….. and eventually went to the 1st. He was wounded and has just recently returned to duty. My corporal clerk in ‘F’ Coy is another and a fusilier, who I could not quite place, came up and seemed very pleased to see me. He was in Ballykinler, but I still do not know his name. He said, ‘How is Mrs. Vaile, Sir? Has she still got the dogs?’. I have just heard that Sgt Tom met with a very bad accident at Omagh. He was demonstrating grenade training and a grenade exploded, with the result that he has lost an arm and an eye. Dreadfully back luck but he was lucky to get away with his life under the circumstances.
Bathing in the Mediterranean is extremely pleasant. The water is beautifully warm and the beaches wide and firm. The danger is, of course, lying too long in the hot sun, one sees some magnificent torsoes but they are usually the result of some months’ work. Excessive sunbathing is regarded as a punishable offence with the ordinary soldier.
The Arabs, we have seen, are a very low type. They are wrapped up in old rags and live in the most appalling hovels in indescribable filth. I am not altogether surprised that Frank, when he first arrived out here, wrote home that he had no idea such people existed.
Discipline at this camp is very good. The CO is very strict but seems very capable. He has a fine Alsatian which follows him everywhere. It makes me quite homesick to look at the dog. All the same he’s not as good as Sadi or Silva. Francs are 200 to £1 so we do quite well on the exchange. I am hoping that at last we will succeed in saving quite a good deal. I hope your affairs are alright now, darling. I am very anxious to hear from you and to know how things are progressing, precious.
We have a daily newspaper, the ‘Union Jack’, which is published in North Africa and is fairly good under the circumstances.The Irish Brigade has been fighting in Sicily and the 1st Bttn apparently put up a fine show but took some hard knocks. Maybe they will be given time to reorganise now as they have had a hard time since they landed here.
Look after yourself dear heart, all my love and kisses to you and my sweet Valerie.
Your adoring husband
Lawrence